Birmingham Mail

Allow me to jog your memory.

These are the exact words of a match report I penned for the Birmingham Mail sometime ago.

"MAKE a note of the name: Nigel Miller of County Durham ... and beware, because he could be coming to ruin a football match near you very soon.
"...Miller is in his first season of Football League officiating and hopefully it will be his last.
"He was absolutely appalling. Everything he could get wrong, he got wrong.
"He was oblivious to mistimed challenges and offthe-ball incidents, while booking players for no apparent reason and blowing his whistle every 30 seconds.
"More than 2,500 Albion fans made the long journey and all of them deserve reimbursing from Miller's own pocket for being subjected to a pathetic, attention-seeking performance that simply beggared belief."

The reference to 2,500 Albion fans making a long journey should be a give-away - I wasn't on about Nigel Miller's display against Sheffield Wednesday at The Hawthorns last month.

These were my reflections on Miller's abject display when Albion travelled to Burnley for a League fixture on January 17, 2004.

Miller refused to answer questions following his poor performance at Burnley. So it's perhaps no surprise that he refused to be held accountable to the press, and subsequently the paying public, following his shambolic handling of Albion's draw against Sheffield Wednesday, when he not only played six minutes of time added on - three were held up by the fourth official - but failed to blow for a foul in the build up to the Owls' injury-time equaliser.

Everyone saw the foul - even Brian Laws acknowledged it. Not Miller.

As a result, Tony Mowbray expressed his disgust by walking onto the pitch and using a few choice strong words. After the game, while Mowbray explained himself, Miller merely made a hasty exit to his car, surrounded by stewards. He wasn't man enough to explain his decisions. The sign of a coward.

Mowbray, whose exemplary track record on the touchline was taken into account by the FA, was handed a suspended three-match touchline ban and £3,000 fine.

Yet Miller is no stranger to this. Ian McParland, the Notts County manager, is facing an improper conduct charge after being sent off by Miller a fortnight ago after protesting about a penalty awarded to Shrewsbury.

Miller also has history with Dennis Wise at Leeds, having dismissed the Elland Road boss earlier in the campaign.

It seems he makes enemies everywhere yet is too important (in his own eyes obviously) to be held accountable. Supporters suffer. They pay good money to see football matches, yet their support is in vain when referees like Miller take over a game.

Managers, meanwhile, get hit in the pockets.

By the way, I'm told the assessors didn't think much of his performance against Wednesday either - so why wasn't this made public?

Mowbray, McParland, Wise and Gary Megson have all been on the receiving end of Miller.

Little did I know, almost four years ago, just how bad Miller would become and how many games he would ruin. And those are just the matches we know about.

His punishment is to go on being unpunished. No doubt Miller will one day be handed a Cup Final and a book deal as a reward for his notoriety.

Meanwhile, everyone else suffers in the process...

Like I said back in January 2004, make a note of the name Nigel Miller. One day he'll be ruining a football game near you.